Highways England’s largest micro-surfacing paving operation delivered by EST
EST has recently completed the largest Micro-surfacing operation ever undertaken on the country’s Strategic Road Network, working for Tarmac on behalf of Highways England.
Approximately 115,000m² of Cold Applied Ultra-Thin Surfacing (CAUTS) has been laid to the carriageway around the A1/A421 Black Cat roundabout, using Eurovia’s BBA HAPAS approved proprietary Micro-surfacing product, GripFibre®. The project was delivered across two weekends in August.
GripFibre® uses Eurovia’s highly modified bitumen emulsion – Emulvia Grip P – which is licenced by their internal materials Research & Development centre, JLUK, and produced by Eurovia’s internal emulsion manufacturer, PolyBitumens.
The product is designed to reduce the risk of aggregate segregation, improving surface texture and skid resistance, leaving a quality road surface which significantly enhances the durability of the carriageway.
This industry-leading approach adopted by EST delivers numerous benefits to the highway authority, the road user and the taxpayer – notably in relation to cost, time and carbon savings.
This Micro-surfacing scheme reduced costs by around 65%, when compared to a conventional plane out and relay hot asphalt operation, and provided significant reduction in carbon emissions through cold application – the material is applied at temperatures below 30°C.
The scheme has also delivered enormous time savings, with a traditional resurfacing operation of this scale taking up to six weekends to complete, compared to two weekends for EST’s four micro-surfacing crews – meaning it is around 66% quicker!
Paul Goosey, Managing Director for Production at Eurovia, said: “I am delighted that we have had this amazing opportunity to not only play a leading role in the SRN’s largest Micro-surfacing operation, but to complete it using our very own, unique GripFibre® product.
“Works of this scale are not undertaken lightly and we have drawn upon our team’s expert planning and execution – I’m so proud of the efforts of our crews and all involved. I hope that the success of this operation will be the catalyst for further CAUTS applications using the GripFibre® solution on other parts of our country’s road network, ensuring good value and durability for taxpayers.”
